Dead girl's organs traded, allege parents

Punjab’s state-owned Government Hospital in Patiala has denied any wrongdoing or foul play following allegations of “murder” and “organ harvesting” leveled by the parents of an eight-year-old British Sikh schoolgirl Gurkiren Kaur Loyal, who died on April 2 in a private hospital in Punjab’s Khanna district.

The family, which took the body to London after the death, has alleged that the girl’s organs were removed by doctors who conducted the post mortem for ‘organ harvesting.’ Doctors in Patiala said the medical history of the deceased showed it was a case of ‘Tetrology of Fallout’ (congenital heart malformation) and she was operated on twice in the UK for it. The family has demanded that the hospital must return the girl’s organs for a post-mortem in the UK.

The Medical Superintendent of the hospital Vijay Sharda said Gurkiren’s organs and viscera were sent for further examination to histology and pathology departments of the Government Medical College, Patiala. “As per the post-mortem report, the time between death and post-mortem examination was about 4-days. The body was brought by the Khanna police on April 6 and after receiving a post-mortem request, a four-member specialist board was formed for further investigations,” he said.